Table MT in Cape Town with the traditional January "table cloth" cloud
On December 29th, 2010 I flew to Cape Town, South Africa with my brother Weston. We had signed on as crew on Bahati a 43′ Montevideo cutter rig sail boat from S. Freeport Maine. The skipper/owner of this boat is an old friend who is completing his 5 year circumnavigation of the globe. We were in South Africa for about a month preparing for the trans-Atlantic passage as well as getting some time to sight see. It was hot and beautiful I especially loved the people of South Africa.
The Egg Man in Green Market, Cape Town
the Egg Man with the prayer flag on his shoulder
The Egg Man is a world known street artist from Benin who wears this ridiculously tall creation on his head made out of found objects and eggs! He is a sparkling personality and a wonderful “street ambassador” for all the tourists.I gave him a blue prayer flag, you can see it tied to his left shoulder. I loved his smile, so typical of the radiant grins we saw on many faces as we traveled. We also had the opportunity to travel up to Kruger Park, an immense game preserve up near Johannesburg.
the giraffe that greeted us when we first entered the park
We spent about 5 days there sightseeing. It was amazing to be able to be so close to these large wild beautiful creatures.
an elephant who munched his way past us, ripping whole tree up for dinner
At the first game lodge that we visited, Monwana I gave each of the staff a prayer flag. They were so sweet, even though most of them did not speak English and had no real clue what these prayer flags were all about. Didn’t matter to me, I just had a feeling that this was a place and the people where the flags belonged.
the Monwana staff with prayer flags
After our safari we return to Simonstown, just south east of Cape Town where we prepared the boat for the 5000 mile voyage back to the Caribbean.
jackass penguins live in Simonstown
South Africa has a very dramatic coast line with tall rugged mountains that drop right to the frigid ocean
Diaz Beach, Cape of Good Hope
Before we left Africa, we went to the Cape of Good Hope. It used to be called Misery Cape, because of the storms and wind. It was very windy when we were there, making it hard to relax in the sun. Diaz Beach was amazing, you can see how big it is by the size of the person (our captain) walking in the distance.
sun rise
We sailed from Simonstown on January 26th, heading North West towards St. Helena, a tiny British island mid-Atlantic. On the 14th day, we landed at this rugged isolated island.We spent 4 days here, resting, visiting, provisioning, and making repairs. I will share more on my
dramatic skies over the horizon
next posting…it was magical.
approaching St Helena